Javascript Applets: Engineering Design and Calculus Concepts

A series of interactive, automatically gradable, javascript applets will be created for 18.01. They will support the learning of graphical calculus concepts, and aid the exploration of engineering design principles. By incorporating a challenge into the course around designing a safe and effective zipBline, we will explore related engineering examples that use ideas from a variety of fields. The goal is to increase retention and transfer of calculus content to other contexts and disciplines. By integrating difficult graphing concepts and engineering examples into javascript applets, we can embed them and grade them using the MITx platform, providing students with immediate feedback. These data also allow us to analyze our design and the alignment with specified learning outcomes.